ABIDJAN – French and UN helicopters attacked heavy weapons of troops loyal to Ivory Coast’s incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo yesterday and Mr Gbagbo’s spokesman said his residence had been partly destroyed.
“UN and French helicopters continue to fire at President Gbagbo’s residence, which has been partially destroyed,” Ahoua Don Mello said by phone.
“There is thick smoke coming from it, but we have no other details on the damage,” he said. He declined to say whether Gbagbo was at the residence at the time.
“We are pursuing our operation to neutralise Gbagbo’s heavy weapons,” UN mission spokesman Hamadoun Toure said.
“We had to stop the operation for a couple of days to evaluate and have realised that there are still some heavy weapons that they had used against civilians and the UN.”
A Reuters correspondent at the French military base near the airport, about 15km from Gbagbo’s residence, said he could hear loud explosions from the direction of the fighting. He said four helicopters, two UN and two French, were carrying out operations.
A resident of Cocody neighbourhood where Mr Gbagbo’s residence is situated said he could see thick black smoke coming from the building.
Forces loyal to Mr Gbagbo had stepped up a counterattack on presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara by firing on his hotel headquarters in Abidjan on Saturday. The hotel is guarded by UN forces.
Residents near the presidential palace and Mr Gbagbo’s residence, where he is said to be holed up with his family, close advisers and about 1,000 militiamen, said they heard heavy cannon fire and shooting late yesterday afternoon.
In Paris, lawyers for Mr Ouattara, in a letter to the French government and the international community yesterday, asked UN and French forces to eliminate Mr Gbagbo’s heavy weapons and militia and bring him to justice.
Rebel forces trying to install Mr Ouattara, who won an election last November according to results certified by the United Nations, swept from the north to coastal Abidjan almost unopposed more than a week ago.
But despite a fierce rebel onslaught, Mr Gbagbo’s soldiers have held on to swathes of the city and launched a counterattack on his hotel.
Even if Mr Gbagbo leaves, Mr Ouattara’s ability to unify the west African country, the world’s number one cocoa producer, may be undermined by reports of atrocities against civilians since his forces charged into Abidjan. Mr Ouattara’s camp has denied involvement.
A UN spokesman in Abidjan said Saturday’s attack on the Golf Hotel, which Mr Ouattara has made his base since the election, involved heavy weapons that appeared to have been fired from Mr Gbagbo’s heavily defended residence.
“This was not a fight, but a direct attack by Gbagbo’s forces, who fired RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and mortar rounds, from positions near Gbagbo’s residence, at the Golf Hotel,” said Mr Toure. He said one UN peacekeeper had been hurt, and UN forces had responded by firing on those positions. – (Reuters)